Girls' Night In!

Each October I host a Girls Night In at the Hotel GrandChancellor Surfers Paradise.  The hotel is kind enough to donate the use of one of its amazing penthouses, as well as the food and drinks for the night. All money raised at the event in the form of entry price, and raffle ticket sales goes to Cancer CouncilAustralia to support breast cancer research. 

This year the meaning behind holding this kind of event was highlighted by a sad event that has occurred in my own life. My gorgeous cousin Molly has been diagnosed with breast cancer, and though she is the strongest woman and will come through yet stronger it is still a terrible time for her and our family.

This year we were lucky enough to have some really great prizes donated by the very kind shops in the Centro Surfers ParadiseShopping Centre. Kristoffer at Chemcoast donated two hampers that any girl would love! One contained heaps of hair products, and the other was full of mineral makeup! Karen from Boost Juice Bars gave us super smoothie vouchers and Amanda from NV Lifestyle Hair Salon donated an amazing package worth $140! Megan from StarShots donated full makeover & photo shoot vouchers! I can’t thank these generous givers enough!

The night was a great success with $252 dollars raised from our small group of 10 girls. We enjoyed dinner, drinks and an amazing sunset from the penthouse before getting down to the raffle. Each girl who won was really pleased with her prize; they all seemed to be just the thing most wished for. 

I am already looking forward to next year and making the night an even bigger success!

Hot Air Ballooning!

When my alarm woke me at four in the morning I wondered what I had done to deserve it. Then I remembered that today I was going Hot Air Ballooning!That got me jumping out of bed to quickly dress for the 4:20am pickup. As I was the first stop I had to get up earliest, those with more luck got to have a lie in till 5:00am… luxury!Jason, our driver, was great; he let us know that Ballooning had a 100% record for coming back to earth. Whew! The whole drive to the takeoff point was in the dark, with us arriving to the site just as light was colouring the sky. The Balloon looked amazing; it was glowing from the flames heating the air inside.

We boarded by climbing in over the side of the basket and the set up was great with two rows of passengers on each side of the basket meaning everyone got a front row seat, except you don’t sit down. The morning air was sharp, and our pilot, Blake, told us that this was the best time of day for balloon flight as the wind is at its most stable. Good to have stable wind when you have no steering!

The views while aloft were spectacular. As it was early morning all the ponds were covered in mist. The sun rose shortly after we ascended and that gave the landscape many more features. The patchwork of fields spread out below us and gave the feeling of being an explorer off to the land of the Lilliputians.

Taking off in the balloon

                                                              Balloon Views

Panorama View

It was always nice when Blake turned on the flames as we got a nice toasty feeling in the fresh morning air. After a time of twisting and turning up the valley looking at spectacular views, and even spotting a few kangaroos we eventually had to land. Some cows had to be shooed off our landing strip and Blake put us down without a bump! Pretty good flying I would say!

Flame heats air in balloon

Kangaroo Spotted!

                                                Clear the landing strip!

Being good sports we helped the guys pack up the balloon, as it would be a big job for just Blake, Jason, and our ground crew of one, Daren! Plus the faster the balloon gets packed up the faster we got to the champagne breakfast.

Landing the Balloon

We were driven to O’Reillys Vineyard for the breakfast portion of the tour, and the setting was gorgeous!Champagne was served on arrival, and there was a self service continental breakfast… followed by a full cooked breakfast! Needless to say I was stuffed after trying unsuccessfully to eat all that delicious food.

O'Reilly's Vineyard

Continental Breakfast

  Cooked breakfast

After breakfast we had time to walk out in the vines, there was also a beautiful creek and picnic benches to sit and let the food digest. The vineyard produces some great wines, and there was a cellar door for those who wanted to do a wine tasting, five wine tastes were included in the tour.

Creek & Picnic Spot

We reluctantly got back on the coach to return to the hotel. It was apparent that everyone would have enjoyed a whole day at the vineyard. I spent the ride back thinking how cool it was that I had finally been up in a balloon!

Click to view HOT AIR's website!

Wine! Silver Bullet Transfers does a wine tour...

I booked my Wine tour with Silver Bullet Transfers some time in advance. This gave me plenty of time to get excited about a whole day of wine, food, and fun!

The tour was a full one and all my fellow wine lovers were in a great mood and ready to try new wines. Our tour leaders were knowledgeable and friendly, pointing out sights for us to look at on the way up to Mount Tamborine.

Our first stop was the Botanical Gardens a lovely cultivated garden covering 11 hectares. We had a short wander through the Japanese garden, the rose garden, and the rainforest walk before settling in at one of the many picnic pavilions for our first tipple, sparkling wine and nibbles to prepare our pallets for the day’s tastings.

After our morning snack we were off to the first cellar door Aussie Vineyards, a lovely spot to which we would return for lunch. The group split into two so that we could all enjoy a more intimate tasting. The wines were nice and we were complimented by the lady serving us on our docility! She could tell it was the first stop…

Next we were off to The Heritage, housed in what used to be the gorgeous Infant savior Catholic Church from Burleigh heads, where the man who conducted our tasting was amazing! He really set the atmosphere, and all the wines he served tasted remarkable! Just goes to show how much influence good company has on the taste of wine. He also regaled us with ideas for foods that would match well with each wine, by the time we had tried eight wines we were starving! Luckily lunch was the next item on our itinerary.

We returned to the gardens of the Aussie Vineyard’s Cellar Door. Our guides had packed a delicious picnic which we enjoyed in the sun, listening to the live local musicians who play each Saturday and Sunday.

After lunch we visited The Cedar Creek Estate Vineyard & Winery and tasted more lovely wines. By this time our group was no longer receiving complements on our docility, and we were all feeling a bit merry. We then moved next door to the Queensland Wine Centre which houses around 100 wines from 14 of Queensland’s premier wineries. There we tasted  eight more wines, all delicious.

Our last stop was the Mount Tamborine Brewery where a beer was quickly poured for each of us. I chose the Czech Mate and it was marvellous. The Witches Chase Cheese Company shares the building with the MT Brewery and we were also able to taste their delicious cheeses, just the thing to go with all our wine purchases!

We had some free time to explore Mount Tamborine’s Gallery Walk before heading back down the mountain. There may have been a little singing in the bus on the way down and you could really tell everyone had enjoyed the day. We were lucky enough to have had a glorious sunny day for our tour but it would also suit a rainy day as the tastings are all indoors. I can’t wait to take my relatives on the tour as soon as they arrive for the holidays, I’m certain I will be very popular!

Tallship Island Adventures

Another perfect sunny Queensland day sees me start my trip on the Tallship Island Adventure to McLaren’s Landing.

All the passengers board the Sir Henry Morgan with the mates resounding welcome ringing in our ears. We can already tell that the crew are amazing. Khan, singer and deck hand extraordinaire, remembered all of our names and was a perfect charmer all day. A brisk Southerly ensures our sails are up and we are off, sailing!

The Broadwater is delightfully smooth and I am just starting to feel I like a total jetsetter with no cares in the world when a speed boat pulls up alongside the Sir Henry Morgan. This is so exciting! We have a little blast around the Broadwater jumping wakes, and spinning circles, exhilarating! A delicious bruschetta is served during the 90 minute sail. This is the life....

Arriving on the dock opens our eyes to the tropical paradise that is McLaren’s Landing, I feel like Robinson Crusoe already. There are Palm trees and tropical thatched huts everywhere, giving the place an amazing atmosphere.

We are served a delicious lunch with a choice of chicken, fish, or steak done on a tropical barbeque with an assortment of sides and salads. Sitting in the shade of a thatched hut I see a little Pretty Faced Wallaby, a native resident of the island. It is so cute!

After lunch we are whisked off on an Eco tractor ride on the tracks through South Stradbroke Island to the beach on the other side. We get to a huge sand dune and immediately the fun begins. We go Sand boarding, and sand rolling! Climbing up the sand hill is pretty hard going and we are soon puffed! We are covered in sand and can’t stop laughing as we troop back to the rig for the return trip.

When we get back to our side of the island we are free to explore or use the beach equipment including pedal boats and kayaks. As the afternoon draws to a close we once again board the Sir Henry Morgan for the return trip to the marina.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my day, and I can tell everyone else has too. It is slightly sad to return to the normal world and I am sure the tropical paradise of McLaren’s Landing will beckon again soon.

Tallship Island Adventures